Back in what some would call the glory days of gaming, Squaresoft published some of the most popular and enduring role-playing games of all time - on Nintendo's systems. In 1995, what would become an enormous hit was released: Chrono Trigger. It was fresh. A unique emphasis on time travel gave this 2D RPG a whole new dynamic never seen before. Players could actually make choices that quite literally influenced the outcome of the game. Chrono Trigger features a myriad of endings, so playing the game twice is not necessarily the same. Thus, even though the game is shorter than other RPG's of the time, replay value is enormous.

Chrono Trigger is considered by many people to be the best game of all time, and at the time of this writing (April 25th, 2005), is ranked #1 by site visitors and staff on the RF Generation Top 100 Games List. It has spawned a sequel, Chrono Cross, which was released on the Sony PlayStation in 2000.

The full text of the back of Chrono Trigger's box is below:

The 32-Meg quest begins.The millenium. A portal is opened. The chain of time is broken. A young man is transported into the past, altering the course of history and the outcome of the future. He has to find his way home, but first he must travel to the outer edges of time to repair the world's chronology.

On the way, he encounters strange friends and foes, utilizes incredible devices and vehicles, and penetrates and neutralizes the fortresses of the past, present, and future. A paradox has been created. If he does not restore the order of time, nothing will ever be the same. He is the one who will become a hero. He is Crono.

Review:

When Chrono Trigger was released in 1995, I'm pretty sure I remember a Nintendo
Power article bragging about the sixty hours of game play. While ChronoTrigger isn't
actually sixty hours long, (It's more like thirty) it is quite possibly, the best RPG available
for the SNES. It's definitely in the top two. Chrono Trigger is a high quality piece of
video gaming. Seriously, this game rocks.

Chrono Trigger revolves around a group of ragtag adventurers who inadvertently
stumble though the space-time continuum where they witness the apocalypse. The game leads
players back and forth through time as the characters change the past, in an attempt to
save the future. This idea makes for some very interesting play mechanics. For instance,
if the player travels back to 600 A.D. and gives a very expensive item to a town mayor,
then in 1000 A.D. the mayor's descendants will do something nice for the player. This
mechanic can be used to alter all kinds of things throughout the game. Depending on which
quests have been completed when you defeat the final boss, the outcome of the entire game
could be drastically different.

What is most amazing about Chrono Trigger is the way it still holds up after almost
ten years. The graphics are about as pretty as sprites can get, (with the exception of
pre-rendered games like Killer Instinct). Even when compared to 2D PlayStation games
released many generations later, Chrono Trigger still looks good. But as good as it
looks, it sounds even better.

The music in Chrono Trigger is fantastic. The score, composed by Yasunori Mitsuda,
is everything video game music should be, and more. Aside from being technologically
impressive, it creates an atmosphere which sucks players into the fantasy world of Guardia
and brings the game's story to life.

The basic controls and systems are pretty standard for an RPG. There are some improvements,
though. 8-directional movement is a nice ability. And encounters are not random, so most enemies
can be avoided. Chrono Trigger also pioneered the battle gauge system which is so
popular with RPGs today.

Overall, Chrono Trigger is a truly awesome game. Awesome graphics, awesome sound,
and awesome gameplay, are backed up with one of the greatest storylines in the history of video
games. Even though it didn't manage to break the barrier between hardcore gamers and the people
who just buy the "new" Madden every year, it remains one of the great classics of the
16-bit era. There is a reason this game still sells for fifty dollars.